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Wayne Law's first-time bar exam passage rate is highest in the state

Ninety percent of Wayne State University Law School graduates who took the state bar exam for the first time in February passed — the highest passage rate of any law school in the state.

The state average was 65 percent. Second after Wayne Law for first-time passage rates was the University of Michigan Law School, with a passage rate of 87 percent.

Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson said she is encouraged by the high first-time passage rate, and is strongly committed to further improving the rate for all of the school’s graduates. In her February State of the Law School address, she outlined her plans for helping students reach their full potential, and improving the school’s bar passage rate was among those goals.

In keeping with that plan, Judge and Adjunct Professor Elizabeth Gleicher is in the initial stages of developing a new course on Michigan law for the winter 2014 term, and Sarah Garrison has joined the Dean of Students Office to assist graduates taking the July bar exam. The Law School’s development team also is “exploring opportunities for donors to financially support bar prep courses for students with financial need,” the dean said.

Wayne Law’s passage rate for graduates taking the February bar exam for a second time was 50 percent, above the state average of 48 percent for second-time exam takers.

Wayne Law’s overall passage rate is 63 percent, which takes into account the second-time passage rate. The Law School’s overall rate is above the state average (58 percent), above Michigan State University’s average (60 percent), and second only to Michigan's (82 percent).